Brook Leisure ltd was founded in 1993 by Martin and Jason Brook, when they opened club Hedonism, a £2 million investment and first step into the late night licensed retail sector. This was a particularly ambitious first venue into the nightclub sector in their home town of Barnsley and was acquired by Northern Leisure Plc, at the height of its success, in 1997. Having kept the name a new Brook Leisure was formed. Both by the development of their own new sites and the acquisition of under performing sites off others, Brook Leisure Holdings (as it became known) expanded quickly. Indeed, at one point in time, the group opened 10 new venues with an average first year return of 71%. Recognition followed with a number of industry awards, which twice saw the group win "uk nightclub of the year" in the early 2000's. By 2005, it was reported that the group was the largest independent operator in the UK and had 23 venues. From this time, there was significant diversification into property development and other sectors and areas of business, but quite often with leisure influence, through the family's wider interests including Quest Property and Conroy Brook Developments. As these grew in size, Martin and Jason's involvement in the day to day running of the leisure business diminished and in late 2012, they formally stepped back from the organisation to facilitate an intended management buyout. The company then changed its name and proceeded under a different banner and divested itself of a number of trading sites. Martin returned to the board as 2014 approached and in April 2014 acquired the companies bank debt of their principle funder. 2015 saw a year of consolidation and in 2016 a new entity, Brook Leisure Group Ltd was formed, which brought back both Jason Brook and a familiar trading name to the fold, by acquiring the trading assets off the old company.